Generations of Legacies
by NightwingNinja17
Summary: It near the anniversary of Doc's death and everyone in Radiator Springs are feeling the weight of their friend's absence. But a few special people will get the surprise of their lives when a certain someone shows up to talk to them. (CARS 3 SPOILERS!)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! SO this story idea has been on my mind for a while now and I decided it was finally time to put pen to paper so to speak. For future reference of this story, there are Cars 3 spoilers in this story so if you haven't seen it yet and don't want spoilers, don't read. If you don't care, feel free to read on.**

 **Second, I just wanted to let you know that some of the ideas and themes that I am writing about, I don't necessarily believe in. I just thought it would be a cool story to write. If you have any questions on what that entails, I'd be more than happy to PM you about it. But if you don't also feel free to read on.**

 **So without further ado, let's get onto the story! :D**

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"Cruise, you're too tight on that turn! Loosen your wheels and it will help you make that turn better!"

Smokey heard Lightning McQueen yell out to his protege as they rounded the banked turn in Willy's Butte. He was amazed at how long they had been going at the second turn of the track as McQueen was attempting to teach Cruz how to drift better. He had seen her do it on the track in Thomasville, but here in Radiator Springs she seemed to be getting better at it.

"You hear that Cruz," Smokey gently wheeled forward towards the edge of the hill overlooking the track and called out to the yellow car zipping by, "The old man is telling you to loosen up!"

Cruz laughed loud enough, that it could be heard over the roar of both of the race cars' engines.

"Haha, very funny Smokey," McQueen sent a half-hearted glare towards the truck as he rounded the track near Smokey's location. Smokey could tell that McQueen had long since given up at trying to convince others that he wasn't that much older than them.

Smokey loved watching those two practice. It was like good old times when he would get Hud to practice on a dirt track much like this. He remembered when he first taught Doc how to drift and he could remember how excited his student was when he finally drifted around the last turn to the finish line during a practice run. He could practically feel the excitement radiate off of the blue paint that Doc wore all the time after that.

Boy what he would give to have Doc sitting next to him watching these two race.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Smokey backed up out of instinct thinking that the voice he heard wasn't real and it was all in his head. But what he saw next was beyond anything he could have ever imagined.

Doc Hudson was sitting next to him, smiling and looking as if he wasn't dead.

"But...but you are..."

"Dead?" Hudson finished his mentor's sentence before wheeling a bit forward to glance down at his star pupil, "I am still very much so. I was just granted one last chance to see you both in person."

"Us both?" Smokey was still having a hard time believing that HIS protege was sitting right there next to him, watching as McQueen and Cruz continued their laps around the track.

"You and Lightning," Doc wheeled back from the edge of the hill when he saw McQueen round the corner and glance up in Smokey's direction.

"Oh. Then why are you backing up?" Smokey noticed this gesture, "I can bring him right in if you..."

"No, I want to see him in person by himself. I have some things I would like to tell him."

Smokey respected that, despite the urge to press for an answer as to what he wanted to say to McQueen.

"Who's the kid racing with him?" Smokey failed to notice that Doc had rolled up to the curve once again and watched the two younger members of the racing tree (Spin on family tree) continued running circles around each other.

"That is Cruz Ramirez," Smokey gestured to the yellow blur that just blazed past the two elder cars, "She is McQueen's trainer turned protege."

Doc just stared and watched in silence.

"Cruz what are you doing?" Doc heard Lightning call out to the yellow vehicle as she took a shortcut across the middle of the Butte and ended up in front of McQueen.

"I am racing, what do you think?"

Smokey and Doc chuckled at the same time when the heard McQueen give Cruz a mini lecture on cheating in a race.

"Wait protege?" Doc turned towards his mentor and friend in surprise.

"You don't know what happened do you?"

"Not much no," Smokey pressed his lips together in a surprised confusion before gesturing for Doc to follow him to Doc's old barn.

Inside it remained much the same as Doc remembered it. First, it was still filled with boxes and parts from Mater's junkyard that happened to find its way inside.

But what really caught Doc's eyes were the many newspaper clippings that plastered one of the walls. Some had pictures of different races that McQueen had one and others were of him at interviews.

The one though that really piqued his interest was one of a picture of a car that was almost completely unrecognizable by just the pictures. It was of a race car that sported a red paint job all crumpled on the side of the road, having just crashed. It also showed several cars in the background that Doc couldn't make out.

"Who's that?" Doc continued to eye it and off the corner of his eye, noticed that Smokey had noticed what he was looking at.

He just stared at Doc waiting for the gears to click into place. Doc continued to study the picture and only then did he notice the faint symbol of Lightning's sponsor adorning the hood of the wrecked car in the picture.

"No it can't be," Doc wheeled closer and saw that the cars in the background were none other than Sally, Mater, Luigi and Guido who all were rushing towards their friend.

Smokey recounted the events leading up to Smokey meeting McQueen. He told him about how McQueen went to find a trainer, which happened to be Cruz and then told him about the events leading up to his arrival in Thomasville. Even though he hadn't watched or had known exactly what had happened to McQueen during the time between his wreck and when he met him, he tried his best to tell Doc all of what McQueen told him.

But with pride, Smokey recanted the race he witnessed. He spared no detail in how McQueen moved up in the pack, but then gave up his spot of the track to let Cruz race her first.

"McQueen gave up his racing tires to let her race her first race," Smokey turned toward the ghostly figure of Doc Hudson and watched as Hud studied the pictures intensely. Each of them depicted McQueen in the crew chief stand sporting Doc's racing colors and with Cruz racing along the track.

Doc remained silent. He didn't even know that his protege would do something like that in his life. Letting go of racing was the hardest thing for him to do and he couldn't imagine what it had done to McQueen.

Doc mindlessly wheeled out of the shop and back down to the track and found McQueen and the yellow car, Cruz, sitting on the track completely out of breath, just talking over some things.

"Since McQueen has taken over as her crew chief, she's won every race she's run so far," Smokey pointed to the pair.

Doc just smiled.

"Are you sure you don't want me to bring him in to see you?"

"I'm sure!" Smokey just stared at Doc. He watched the delight flicker through the blue car's eyes as he watched Lightning and Cruz make one more lap and then back up towards them.

"Last one to Flo's buys!" Smokey's thoughts were disrupted when Cruz blasted past him in a mad dash back for town.

"No fair Cruz!" Lightning soon followed suit and also began making his way back towards town, "You know you're faster than me!"

"I know!"

"That never gets old, does it Hud?" Smokey turned to face Hudson one last time, but found him to be nowhere in sight.

Smokey looked around for a few more seconds, before his eyes settled on the tire tracks left in the dirt. He smiled.

"Thank you Doc," And with that Smokey wheeled off towards town.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry this took me so long to write! Things have started to get super busy for me! But I wanted to get this up for you guys that way you can have something new to chew on. So I hope that you enjoy this chapter a much as I had writing it! :D**

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It had been several weeks since the day that Doc appeared to Smokey and life in Radiator Springs continued like normal. Everyone going about their normal routines as the crowds swarmed Radiator Springs.

Smokey had returned to Thomasville, under the excuse that he had to go make sure the other legends didn't tear down the place. Everyone of the Radiator Springs crew laughed at this and wished him safe travels.

Lightning was especially grateful to the old timer for taking time out of his day to help him and more importantly help Cruz on getting on their feet again. He was thankful that he ran into Smokey, no matter how hard it was to meet him without Doc by his side.

This feeling of loss was made worse by the fact that today was the day that they learned Doc had died. Lightning kept on playing the day over and over again in his mind.

He was shook from his thoughts however, when a hearty laugh came from everyone at a Joke Lightning only caught the tail end of. He smiled despite not knowing what they were all laughing about. It was the end of the day and so the crew were enjoying a well deserved rest.

"Hey Stickers," Sally wheeled over to him and nuzzled his side to get his attention, "Are you alright?"

"Y..Yeah I'm alright," Lightning's eyes locked with hers and he gave her the best smile he could muster at the moment.

"Are you sure, because you don't look alright to me."

"I just need some time to myself right now," Lightning backed up and began to drive away.

Excusing himself from the lively bunch, Lightning made his way through the main street of Radiator Springs. He stopped at the end of the road he paved all those years ago and smiled sadly as he glanced upon it.

Had Doc not thrown him into the cactus that day, it would have been an entirely different story. Lightning would have probably made it on time to the California race and he would have been just as cocky now as he was back then. If it wasn't for the efforts of Doc and the people he came to call his friends, he would have probably been a much different car.

Then McQueen found himself wandering the street that led up to the Wheel Well and soon found himself in Doc's old barn. It wasn't the same barn that he had first wheeled into all those years ago, when he found out Doc's true identity.

Lightning had spent much of his free time tidying up the place. And it happened even more so after his crash. But what he really wanted to see was the wall of memories that he had placed up on the wall shortly after Cruz's win at the Florida 500 a few months back.

A lot of them were of pictures of him and Cruz posing for the cameras after Cruz won the various races she had won. Others were of his last season as a racer and all the races he had won along side his friends. Smokey even loaned a few of the newspaper clippings Doc sent him to be put on the wall, thinking that Lightning would get more out of them than he did.

But then his eyes glanced over the picture of the night of _HIS_ horrific crash. He remembered Storm passing him and how desperate he was to be back on top. He remembered how his tire blew and all the pain that followed. Though he couldn't remember much after that, he remembered very vividly how much his wreck mirrored the one that Doc had all those years before McQueen had met him.

McQueen had put it up next to Doc's as a reminder of not only what had happened, but the choice he made as a result. He smiled as he remembered the moment that he decided Cruz was the one who would bring him a victory.

"I can't believe your final race ended like that," Lightning shut his eyes hard, not wanting to believe what he just heard. He thought it was all just a figment of his imagination.

" _No it can't be!"_ the thought passed through Lightning's mind.

"You can turn around, rookie. I'm really here," The voice called out to the racer.

Lightning slowly turned around and found that his mouth slowly opened with ever second that passed.

"Doc!" Lightning raced over to the older racer's side and gave the car's equivalent of a hug. Doc gave one back and the two sat in silence for what seemed like eternity before either of them broke the silence.

"B...B...But how are you..." Lightning found the words hard to say as he turned to face his mentor and friend once more.

"Here? I was allowed a few brief moments with the people that I loved when I was present here," Doc smiled at the flabbergasted look McQueen was giving him.

"But why?"

"I knew that I didn't give you much closure to when I died since it happened so suddenly. I wanted to be able to see how you were doing."

McQueen just smiled. He was grateful to see his mentor all over again and it seemed like he hadn't left. They chatted a bit about how the others were doing and how Radiator Springs had almost doubled in size since Doc's passing.

"So tell me about this wreck of yours," Doc suddenly changed the subject.

It was if Doc had read Lightning's mind.

"I don't...I don't really want to talk about it," Lightning turned around and started to make his way out of the barn and out into the night.

"If it was on your mind, Hot Shot, I'm pretty sure you need to talk about it to someone," Doc curiously followed him to the door, trying to push McQueen to tell him what had happened.

McQueen sighed and then turned around to face Doc, his mentor, once more.

"I let a young rookie get into my head," McQueen's face fell at the comment, "I should have known better than to let that happen, but with everyone basically calling for my retirement, it really seemed like I had no other option."

"But it looks like you're still in the game," Doc pointed his wheel over to pictures on the wall of McQueen and Cruz.

Lightning just smiled fondly at them as he looked over the many pictures of him in the crew chief stand instead of out on the track.

"It seems like you're enjoying yourself more as a crew chief," Doc looked at a picture of a very enthusiastic McQueen and Cruz holding the Piston Cup that had been named in Doc's honor. It was Cruz's first Piston Cup and it meant a lot to both Cruz and McQueen that she won it when she did.

McQueen just smiled at his mentor's comment and then he felt a thoughtful look come over his face.

"Doc, your friend Smokey," Lightning began, "He told me that in the letters your would send back to Thomasville, you wrote how much you enjoyed training me. And that it was the best choice you ever made. Was that true?"

They sat in silence for a couple of seconds as they both stared at the pictures on the wall once more.

"You betcha kiddo," Doc backed up to where he was fully facing McQueen once more and smiled one of the most generous smiles he had ever given his protege, "I enjoyed every minute of it. More than you will ever know."

McQueen felt his eyes tear up at those words.

"Now you make sure that you give her," Doc pointed to Cruz, "The best training you can ever give. Or else I will have to haunt you for the rest of your life."

McQueen laughed at this and felt the sadness go away. He then looked at the picture that was taken shortly after McQueen declared he was going to be Cruz's crew chief. The look on her face said it all. She was living her dream and nothing could ever take that away from her.

"I will Doc," McQueen wanted to ask Doc one last question but when he turned around he couldn't find him sitting there anymore.

McQueen finally felt a tear run down his face as he was filled with joy over seeing Doc Once more.

" _I promise Doc that I will train her as well as you taught me. I won't let your legacy die out, you can count on that."_

McQueen smiled one last time and then left to join the party again. Sally noticing first that he had come back with a silly grin plastered across his face.

"Is everything alright Stickers?"

"Yes Sally," McQueen gave her a kiss on the fender, "Everything is just fine."

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 **Hope this didn't seem all over the place and I hope that you enjoyed this story a much as I had writing it! :D**


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